Then does something completely dumb. Walks all the way across the lane and misses the layup.

I'm more than a little tired of the "We're young" excuse. All teams are young at some places. I'm not saying I expect these guys to be Kentucky but I expect them, after 22 games, to go out and give at least a reasonable amount of effort on the road. It was obviously not there tonight. They know by this point what it takes to compete on the road - they did it at Bama, for the most part, except for that killer 5 minute scoring drought at the end of the game.

These guys may turn it around at some point, but as hard as is to say, I might be as disappointed with this group as I've been with a Razorback team in the last 10 years.

"I mean they are Arkansas, we thought we could steal a road win there."

Same story, different mascot shirts. It happens. It sucks but it happens. Who was it that we just jumped on 1st half that couldn't do anything right and we couldn't miss.

Even though it's not near as modern or state of the art anymore as most of us think, we have one of the best venues in the country.We've got a traditionally motivated fan base and a generally "smart" and loud crowd that makes it tough to win there, even when we have a bad team.

Fact is, we do not have a "good" team this year. We've played well at home and had our moments on our home floor, but that's it.While from a recruiting standpoint, we know the practice facility will happen... if there was ever an argument to not get one, this season is it.

LOW on numbers, LOW on experience = BAD season. The fact that we've even been discussed as a bubble team shows two things... That you're a really bad team if you don't make the tournament this season and that Coach A has done one Starkville of a job at establishing a foundation and getting this program with a good step going forward.

Winning these games at home, getting the fans behind this team... HUGE step for the program and something we've seemingly lost in the past ten years. To me, that's what this season has been all about.

I am delighted with the progress and style demonstrated in the early stages of the MA era at Arkansas. After a decade of mismanagement and poor leadership -- it will take some time to get the ship righted. And some talent. Not to be negative or overly critical, but we have a talent vortex compared to most basketball teams. I don't think any mix of personnel or strategies will make much of a difference on an off night.

As frustrating as the game was to watch... it's just as frustrating to see the "definitely won't make the tourney now" comments.

I guess I just realize how ridiculous of an expectation that is for this team.

I guess it's my age, but I always expect us to make the tourney. And I admit I might be overly positive, but if we beat South Carolina, we'll be 17-8. I don't know how anyone can already chalk up a road loss at Auburn. What happens if we beat FL and AL at home. That'd be at least 19, throw in a road win, an SEC tourney win, we're at 21. That's enough for bubble talk.

Believe it or not, the SEC is better this year. Wins over UConn, Marquette, and Michigan by teams not named Vandy, KY, or FL.

Again, didn't make it through the whole thread. This was stupid enough.

How will I ever sleep at night.

I get we are bad at lots of things, things involving technioque or skills or just plain god-given ability. Those all take time to cure with a combination of coaching and recruiting. Those failings don't piss me off this year.

But when there is a frequent problem of dribblers going coast to coast and shooting lay-ups, getting down the court with the ball faster than guys running without the ball, and/or people failing to get out and cover wide open three point shooters, to me that's either a conditioning issue or a hustle issue.

Logged

"As the leader of all illegal activities in Casablanca, I am an influential and respected man."

I get we are bad at lots of things, things involving technioque or skills or just plain god-given ability. Those all take time to cure with a combination of coaching and recruiting. Those failings don't piss me off this year.

But when there is a frequent problem of dribblers going coast to coast and shooting lay-ups, getting down the court with the ball faster than guys running without the ball, and/or people failing to get out and cover wide open three point shooters, to me that's either a conditioning issue or a hustle issue.

A lot of the first part, get used to. You're going to see that on teams like this... especially on uptempo squads in transition.

The second is a numbers problem. We've got a few kids putting in a lot of minutes on an uptempo club. There's no real solution to that. We were wearing teams down a la the Michigan game. Now we're the team that looks weary in the second half. I honestly think we've just hit a wall in that aspect. It's disappointing, but I think we all knew it would happen at some point.

Be disappointed, but realistic. To hope -- nay, EXPECT -- this team to finish games and give that Pelphrey(wannabe)-style over-achieving 110% throughout every contest just isn't going to happen. It's basketball, teams have off nights. They get out of the rhythm and lose the flow of the game. Especially on the road. Especially with low numbers. Especially with youth. Especially with raw talents that are still very rough around the edges. That's what we have here... and we've known that since even before Powell went down.

I still think we can win all of our home games. If we do that, it's a big step forward.

I've quoted this before, but BanjoJimmy was asked earlier this year, "What does Mike Anderson need to do to get Arkansas basketball to the next level?" He said, "The first thing they need to do is get to where they win all their games at home. Next, start winning some games on the road. Then start winning some games against ranked teams on the road. Finally, get to where they can win against top ranked teams on the road. That's how you build a program."

We can reach the first step this year and that is an improvement. Razorback basketball is on its way back, but it's not going to be instant gratification.

Arkansas [17-8 (5-5), RPI: 65, SOS: 74] Yes, the Razorbacks are perilously close to falling off the page. Why? There's the so-so RPI and the downright bad nonconference strength-of-schedule numbers, to name two reasons, but more importantly, Arkansas has yet to win a game away from Fayetteville. That trend continued last week, as Arkansas lost two on the road (at LSU, at Georgia) before returning home for a win over South Carolina on Saturday. This team is 0-7 in games away from its building. If the Hogs go to 0-8 at Tennessee on Wednesday, they're off the page. The rest of the indicators (plus-60 RPI, plus-200 nonconference SOS, etc.) simply aren't strong enough to make up for all these road losses.